Refinishing furniture

[Jessie]

So I bought a small maple desk last night.  It's scratched all to hell, so I need to either sand it down and refinish it, or sand it down and paint it.

I'm leaning towards refinishing, because I really like natural wood, but I don't really have the space to do it.  I guess I'd have to go when I get time and sand at the storage place, then bring it home to stain it.

Any suggestions?

[BigDun]

Get one of these: http://www.blackanddecker.com/productguide/ProductDetail.aspx?PID=8105&RHID=857&P=ProductDetail.aspx&ATT=AttachmentDetail.aspx&ACC=AccessoryDetail.aspx&ACS=AccessoySet.aspx&R=ProductListByType.aspx

[Jessie]

Get one of these: http://www.blackanddecker.com/productguide/ProductDetail.aspx?PID=8105&RHID=857&P=ProductDetail.aspx&ATT=AttachmentDetail.aspx&ACC=AccessoryDetail.aspx&ACS=AccessoySet.aspx&R=ProductListByType.aspx

That probably costs more than I paid for the desk, which would defeat the purpose of buying a used desk.

[Gamplayerx]

Any suggestions for what?  Whether to paint or stain?

[Gamplayerx]

I wanna see it painted, painted black
Black as night, black as coal
I wanna see the sun blotted out from the sky
I wanna see it painted, painted, painted, painted black

[Jessie]

I wanna see it painted, painted black
Black as night, black as coal
I wanna see the sun blotted out from the sky
I wanna see it painted, painted, painted, painted black

I don't think that will match, but thanks for the suggestion.

[Infobahn]

Home Depot people (and Loews) are really, really helpful.

They have classes for these things.

[DownSouth]

Ask Nate.

[cnamon]

I wanna see it painted, painted black
Black as night, black as coal
I wanna see the sun blotted out from the sky
I wanna see it painted, painted, painted, painted black

Thanks for putting a good song in my head today Gamp!

SMOOCHIES!

[nishi]

the first question is is it solid wood, or is it veneer? check around the edges, where it's been beaten a bit - if you can see that the finish is actually a thin layer of wood over another kind of wood, it's not worth the trouble to refinish, because you can accidentally pull off veneer during the refinishing process.

then, how big is it? and how much detail work is there? if it's kind of complicated in its construction, it might not be worth it in the long run.

refinishing furniture isn't very hard - it's messy, though.

and don't start with sanding - go to home depot or somewhere and ask, but a lot of refinishing products pull the old finish off while you work them in with steel wool - you're stripping and sanding at the same time. i know that formby's works that way, although it's been a long time since i did any refinishing. other products will strip off the old finish and you sort of scrape it off with a putty knife and then go back and sand.

i probably wouldn't use a hand sander on a small desk though, especially if you're not used to using one.

[cnamon]

Nishi, I have decided you are a kick ass Martha Stewart.

Maybe you two are related.

[nishi]

Nishi, I have decided you are a kick ass Martha Stewart.

Maybe you two are related.

i'm glad she's the one that did time.....


i was just thinking about when i learned to refinished furniture, and i was ... in high school.  what the fuck kind of teenager was i??

a weird one.

[Gamplayerx]

Nishi, I have decided you are a kick ass Martha Stewart.

Maybe you two are related.

i'm glad she's the one that did time.....


i was just thinking about when i learned to refinished furniture, and i was ... in high school.  what the fuck kind of teenager was i??

a weird one.

Then I was weird as well.  I had a thing for antique furniture and bought a lot of it and refinished it.  I dumped most everything.  I only still have one dresser, which I have now painted in laquer black, and what was a sewing machine - which makes a pretty awesome desk.  I took out the sewing machine - I spent so many nights doing homework or playing with makeup or new hairstyles while making that wheel spin.

[Jessie]

Oh, I got froggy and bought some sandpaper before seeing nishi's reply.

The desk has something on it that says it is maple, and as far as I can tell it is solid wood.  It is very small, and not ornate.  It's just a desk with one drawer, and three shelves down the side. 

It is terribly scratched up.  I started sanding a bit of it tonight, and the finish is coming off really easily.  I don't know if that's good or bad.  I assumed it was because it is old and beat up, so the finish isn't very thick any more.

I just thought I'd sand it down and slap a coat or two of some sort of finish on it.

Why do I need to strip it if the stuff will sand off easily?

[Gamplayerx]

You don't.  The benefit of stripping over sanding is that it preserves more of the wood and grain and stuff - especially if there's scrollwork.

[Jessie]

What's scrollwork?

This is a very plain desk.  It will be functional more than it will be decorative.  I just want it not to be a eyesore.

[Gamplayerx]

Scrollwork is when there are spiral decorative forms or carvings in the wood.  Sand away!

[BigDun]

Scrollwork:

[nishi]

Nishi, I have decided you are a kick ass Martha Stewart.

Maybe you two are related.

i'm glad she's the one that did time.....


i was just thinking about when i learned to refinished furniture, and i was ... in high school.  what the fuck kind of teenager was i??

a weird one.

Then I was weird as well.  I had a thing for antique furniture and bought a lot of it and refinished it.  I dumped most everything.  I only still have one dresser, which I have now painted in laquer black, and what was a sewing machine - which makes a pretty awesome desk.  I took out the sewing machine - I spent so many nights doing homework or playing with makeup or new hairstyles while making that wheel spin.

i know that one of the pieces i refinished - a birds eye maple desk - is at my mom's, and a huge huge walnut wardrobe is at my brother's. i have still a dresser and a chest of drawers (hilairiously, the chest of drawers remains only partially refinished - it was the last piece i did, and i just..... ran out of steam. it's been half refinished for probably 18 years). i used to have a steamer chest - i have no earthly idea where that went. and the rest of it... i just got rid of it.

it's nice to work with wood like that, though. now that i know more about furniture repair it might be fun to take on a new refinishing project, but that won't happen anytime soon.

[Gamplayerx]

I refinished a huge wardrobe that's at my brother's, too!  I think he also has one of the dressers.

And I forgot the china cabinet.  We still have that.

[ReBurn]

Ok...this is my suggestion on how to refinish the desk.

Go to Home Depot or Lowes or whatever hardware store turns you on and purchase the necessary equipment to sand it down to it's natural state.  Purchase a large tarp as well, since you may be doing this outside and you do not want to have the weather damage the wood.  Take the supplies home.  When you get home, move the desk outside, or to wherever you plan to do the work, and place the bags from the hardware store on top of it.  At this point you will want to take a break, so take the tarp out and cover the desk with the bags sitting on top of it.

Two weeks later when you feel like working on it again, take the tarp off the desk and start sanding.  About one-quarter of the way through decide that this job is a pain in the ass and take a break.  Later that evening, go outside and cover the desk with the tarp, since it is now too late to work on it.  The following Saturday, get up at 6 am and put on old clothes, because you have decided that you are going to finish sanding that desk today.  Start sanding for all you are worth, slowing down as the hours go past.  At about 5 pm finish sanding, pat yourself on the back, and cover the desk with the tarp.

In one month, suddenly realize that you need to get that desk finished.  Go outside and remove the tarp, at which time you will also have to remove toys and other treasures as Timothy has decided that this makes a really frickin' cool fort.  Go to your favorite home improvement store again to pick up the necessary finishing supplies, bring them home, and sit them on the desk.  Go eat lunch, then come back and start painting or staining.  Once the top is finished, put your supplies down and go inside to take a break.  After watching the Gilligan's Island marathon for six hours you remember that you forgot to clean your brushes, so now they are ruined.  Great job!  Clean up as best you can and then cover the desk with the tarp.

After a week passes, you go and purchase more brushes, vowing that you won't forget to clean them this time.  Go home and start finishing again.  Work until the entire desk is finished.  Sit down, stare at the desk, and determine that you need one more coat.  When you stand up, change your mind and decide that the desk is fine as it is.  Put your brushes down and go inside for a while to "let it dry."  Later that night you hear thunder so you run outside and cover the desk with the tarp.  At that point you discover that you forgot to put your supplies away again, so now pretty much everything is ruined from sitting out in the wide-open all day.  Feeling that the second-coat decision has now been made, you throw everything away and go inside to watch TV.  You get up the next day and move the desk into the house and load it up with junk. 

Good work!!!

[Jessie]

Haha!  Brilliant!

[Gamplayerx]

That was lovely, ReBurn.

Jessie, I suggest you do it exactly like that.

[sapphirehart]

Reburn....that is exactly what I did to a desk that I found years ago in an old house that Terry was tearing down.  I ended up giving it away cuz I didn't like the way it turned out once it was finished.